The Boracay Inter-Agency Task Force adopted the Medium-Term Boracay Action Plan on Dec. 21, formally laying out programs for the island’s rehabilitation, the National Economic and Development Authority said Monday.
Neda said the task force would install safeguards from ecological degradation and sustain tourism activities in Boracay. These programs and activities would be implemented following Boracay’s six-month closure from April to October 2018.
“It primarily provides the strategic interventions to ensure the island’s rehabilitation over the medium term and sustainable management over the long term,” Neda Undersecretary Adoracion Navarro said.
She said the plan embodied the stakeholders’ vision of a “secure and globally-competitive world-class tourism destination with a vibrant, productive and climate-resilient economy that is geared toward inclusive growth and anchored on the sustainable development of its innate natural resources.”
The plan has four thematic areas, namely: enforcement of laws and regulations, pollution control and prevention, rehabilitation and recovery of the ecosystem, and sustainability of island activities.
The proposed estimated total investment requirement for the plan is P25.27 billion for all thematic areas, including P16.21 billion (64 percent of the total)for infrastructure.
The indicative number of programs, projects, and activities combined under all the thematic areas is 233. The private sector will finance P15.89 billion or 62.9 percent of the total cost.
Created by Executive Order No. 53 in 2018, the inter-agency task force is tasked to formulate an action plan that serves as a guide for Boracay Island’s rehabilitation.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the lead agency heading the task force, designated Neda to lead the Boracay Action Plan Committee.
Neda organized several regional and national level meetings to ensure that key interventions from both government and private organizations were incorporated into the BAP.
Consistent with EO 53, the BAP would be submitted “for approval of the president upon the recommendation of the Cabinet.”
Once approved by the president, the BAP will be implemented until 2022.
